Vail Daily letter: Lifesaver

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Dear Dr. Pat Shehaan: You probably do not remember us. Our son Matias had a minor surgery last Oct. 3 at the Rocky Mountain for Children Hospital, and you were his anesthesiologist. You called me the day before to introduce yourself and to let me know about your experience as an anesthesiologist. You told me everything was going to be fine.

After his procedure, you came to me and told me that our son's EKG came abnormal. You decided to repeat the EKG to make sure that everything was fine. It wasn't. You told us that it could have been the anesthesia but were persistent and called the radiology team to perform an EKG on our son just to be sure that everything is OK.

Your perseverance, patience and kindness helped us find by accident our son's life-threatening heart defect. I still remember when I saw you again on that day. I was in tears, and you asked me what the EKG result was. I will never forget your words: "Well, I am glad it was found, and he is in the best hands in this hospital." You were right.

I have thought for several days what to write to you this Thanksgiving. What can I write to you? As a mom, you gave me the very best reasons to be thankful for. You helped us to save our son's life!

For you, it might have been another day at work. For me, it was the day somebody did his job at best, gave me the courage to keep walking and filled me with certainty that everything was going to be OK.

From the bottom of a mom's heart: Thank you, Dr. Patrick Shehaan! For your professionalism, your sensitivity and for saving my son's life. You and the ones you have in your heart will be in our prayers for the rest of our lives.